Hazard anticipation of young novice drivers - SWOV

A theory that explains how we may learn from critical social
situations 8 is the 'somatic-marker hypothesis' (Bechara et al., 1997; Damasio,
1994; Damasio et al., 1996). This theory proposes that in a complex and
uncertain situation, our decision making process is partly guided by
emotional signals from the viscera. As these emotions are body-related,
Damasio (1994) called these emotional signals 'somatic markers'. The marker
signals help us to reduce the problem space to a tractable size by marking
response options with an emotional signal. People are born with a number of
primary emotions. Through learning (classical conditioning), these primary
emotions get connected to stimuli and patterns of stimuli. If in new
situations, these patterns of stimuli reappear, the emotions felt the first time
are very briefly relived (the somatic markers) and this gut feeling helps a
person to take decisions. This can happen without awareness. The briefly reactivated
past emotions help us to focus our attention to what is important in
the situation and help us to take decisions, without the necessity to analyse
all the possible options. Especially in traffic, decision-making has to be quick
and thus somatic markers can be very helpful.
Damasio (1994) assumes that patients with lesions in the VMPFC do
not develop somatic markers. Although these patients have normal scores on
IQ-tests, they take irresponsible decisions repeatedly and are impulsive.
According to Damasio et al. (1996) not only the VMPFC is involved in the
process of somatic marking, but also the somatosensory cortices, the insula,
the gyrus cinguli anterior and the basal ganglia. Empirical support for the
somatic marker hypothesis is largely based on research with the Iowa
Gambling Task (e.g. Bechara et al., 1994). In this task, participants have to
select cards from the top of any of four decks of cards until they are told to
stop. Before they begin, they receive a $2000 loan of play money. The aim is
to maximize profit on the loan of play money. After the turning of each card,
a participant receives money. Turning a card from decks A or B yields $100
and turning a card from the decks C or D yields $50. After having turned
some cards, irrespective of the deck, the card that is turned is a penalty card.
The density of penalty cards and the severity of the penalties vary per deck.
On the long run, selection of cards from the decks with small profits (deck C
and D) is more advantageous than the selection of cards from the highpaying
decks (A and B). Patients with lesions in the VMPFC continue to
draw cards from the high-paying decks, whereas participants without lesions
in the VMPFC switch to the decks C or D after a while, even before they
8
Hazardous traffic situation involving other road users can be considered as critical social
situations.
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